This is a fantastic book - not simply because it exposes IBM's links with Nazi germany, but also because it shows how big business was wedded to the Nazi regime from the start.

One point though. This book has been around for sometime, the paperback being published in the UK several months ago, and the hardback being out over a year. The new introduction for the paperback, is dated 11 Sep 2001, so that may explain why it didn't get to the media very much.

Much, much more information can be found on the authors website. www.edwinblack.com which contains extracts, and further articles.

I would be interested if anyone knows if their is an official statement from IBM regarding the book - Edwin Black says that they have restricted access to their archives, and made it difficult for further researches to take place.

All the best,
Martin E

The official IBM statement is:

IBM finds the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime abhorrent and
condemns anything that contributed to their unspeakable acts.

The Nazi's use of Hollerith equipment has been publicly known for decades.
A Hollerith machine even stands in the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C.

It has also been known that IBM's German subsidiary during the 1930s --
Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen GmbH (Dehomag) -- supplied Hollerith
equipment. As with hundreds of foreign-owned companies that did business in
Germany at that time, Dehomag came under the control of Nazi authorities
prior to and during World War II. IBM Germany was established after the
war.

IBM does not have a lot of information or records about Dehomag. Most
documents were destroyed or lost during the war. What documents IBM did
have that were relevant to this period were donated to New York University
and Hohenheim University in Stuttgart, Germany -- two institutions with
respected independent academic experts who could become the custodians and
analysts of these records.

Regards,

Christine Spreitzer
IBM